Greetings medievalists!
How about that fire spreading, huh? One thing we didn’t touch on earlier is how fire affects living beings. Naturally, they’ll burn too—but humans may avoid severe burns depending on the clothing or armor they’re wearing. Animals, however, don’t have such protections, which makes things a bit more chaotic. If an animal catches fire, it will not only suffer burn wounds but also spread flames as it moves, leaving destruction and chaos in its wake.
Fire doesn’t just hurt living creatures—it also generates intense heat. This heat kills vegetation, evaporates wetness, and melts snow in the surrounding area. It can even cause heat-related health issues for settlers, potentially leading to them fainting (think of it as a localized heatwave).
We’ve tried to play with the impact of wind on fire spreading, but the results were not… ideal.
There are too many variables to consider with such tests, so we’ll revisit that idea later in the development.
Okay, but how do you deal with fire? Fear not, we have a couple of solutions for you. Both of those involve Firefighter job. That's right, we are throwing in another job for your settler to do.
People that have a firefighter job turned on will deal with fire in one of two ways, depending on fire's intensity. If there is a small fire present and it's nearby, settlers will go to it and stomp it out - no additional resources needed.
For intense fires, settlers will fetch water from a source and throw it onto the flames. This not only extinguishes the fire but also leaves wetness behind, which can help prevent the fire from reigniting.
We’re still working on fine tuning that action and animation, but hey - it’s much better than our previous placeholder solution.
So, yes, you will utilize rivers and lakes for these purposes, but what if they are far from fire? Well... the building that will help take water from a specific point is… a well. That's right, you will be able to construct a well structure that needs to be over a body of water and setters will choose to take water from the well instead of choosing the body of water. But here is when it gets interesting - water can be stockpiled in barrels.
Barrels are new structures for storing water, available in two sizes: small and large. Settlers can fill these barrels (as extinguishing water is now a resource) and use them as localized water points for firefighting. Strategically placing barrels in flammable areas can help protect key locations. And here’s the sweet part: if a fire reaches a barrel, it will break, spilling its stored water and potentially extinguishing nearby flames.
The neat thing about the barrels is that beyond being refilled by settlers, they'll be refilled by rain, too. Positioning them under roof corners will speed up the process, thanks to additional water accumulation from runoff.
It’s worth noting that while wells and barrels are handy additions, they won’t serve as sources for settlers to drink from, bathe, or wash clothes. Adding water as a necessary requirement for your settler is very close, if not identical to the hunger need. As such, it wouldn’t add anything to the gameplay that existing systems don’t cover. We are trying to justify the existence of every need in the game and tie it to the present stuff. Food covers the health part via a resource, alcohol provides a mood buff tied also to a resource, entertainment requires a building, religion too (and religious sides provide a bit of dynamic). If we add just a thirst for water, it would be a copy of the hunger need - identical function, separate bar.
We could add a need for washing/hygiene at one point, but currently it doesn’t seem that different from entertainment in a sense that a settler “performs” it and satisfies their need. If, at some point, we introduce sickness types and focus on medicine a bit more, we can revisit this idea. For now, we’d like to focus ourselves on the roadmap.
Going Medieval is already a management-heavy game, and adding those mechanics would increase micromanagement without enough gameplay benefit to justify the complexity.
Let's end this with a neat bundle! We’ve teamed up with the creators of Diplomacy is Not an Option to offer this limited-time bundle:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/46626/Going_Medieval_X_Diplomacy_is_Not_an_Option/
Set in a medieval fantasy world, Diplomacy is Not an Option delivers wild, chaotic, and endlessly fun strategy gameplay. Haven’t snagged Going Medieval yet? Now’s your chance to grab two amazing games at a very diplomatic discount.
And that would be all for this talk. Next week we'll discuss how the fire relates to combat. While you wait, do let us know if this fire control and water management system sounds good to you. Until next time...
Stay medieval!